


Though We’re No Longer Strangers

by pedromiamor



Category: Narcos (TV)
Genre: Drunk kiss, M/M, a minor drunk confession, hungover steve can’t remember shit, javi doesn’t know what to do with his life, javi takes care of steve, kinda bittersweet, steve is wasted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 20:27:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29338287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pedromiamor/pseuds/pedromiamor
Summary: Javier makes the mistake of taking Steve out for drinks and has to deal with the consequences. Maybe it was just an accident.
Relationships: Steve Murphy/Javier Peña
Comments: 10
Kudos: 39





	Though We’re No Longer Strangers

**Author's Note:**

> Though I’ve only known you for not so long,  
> I can’t help the ache when you are gone.  
> Though now we’re no longer strangers,  
> I can’t help but keep you from danger.  
> -yo

Javier had noticed that Steve was a little off today. Something about how he didn’t say good morning or how he didn’t do anything when he realized he forgot the creamer in his coffee. Steve never drank it black. 

He noticed the itch of Steve’s fingers toward the cigarette box in his shirt pocket more than usual. He’d smoked more by the time lunch time hit than Javier would in an entire day. Something was eating that man up. Making his shoulders slump and his eyes heavy. 

So Javier asked him for drinks after work. 

He didn’t ask him what was wrong, or if something had happened. It could’ve been him missing Connie again. Javier didn’t know, but he knew Steve would tell him eventually. 

They sat silent for a while at the table they shared, casually snacking on the chips between them. Javier was nursing a beer and Steve had just asked for his third shot of whiskey. “You were right Peña,” he finally speaks. He’s putting out his cigarette in the ash tray beside his arm and puffing out his last blow of smoke. 

“I usually am, but about what?” 

Steve swallows all of his whiskey and asks for two more. Javier frowns at him as he lights another cigarette. He takes a long drag from it and exhales in a pitying laugh. “All of it. I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into with Carrillo. I should’ve listened to you.”

Javier was confused. “I don’t-”

“You told me you were protecting me. Protecting me from the awful things he does to get shit done and I didn’t listen. I stuck my foot in the door and demanded to be let in on the action. You told me to be careful, and I wasn’t. It hurts.” He’s looking down into his empty glass now. The cigarette’s burning unforgotten in his hand. 

Javier knows they busted a lab yesterday and Steve went with Carrillo to transfer the guys they captured. He hadn’t heard of anything different happening after that. Now that he thinks about it, Steve had been acting a little shaken up last night after returning in the helicopter. “What happened?” he asks softly. 

Steve just shrugs. “Threw the fucking guys out of the side when we were over the mountains just because they wouldn’t talk. We didn’t get any information from them. He didn’t even try. Just killed them because he was impatient.” Steve looks up with eyes of a million emotions. The most strongest one is pain. “I couldn’t even do anything to stop him. I thought maybe he’d throw me out too. Can you imagine that Peña? Shaking your head no once and getting tossed out the side of a chopper to get smashed on the side of a mountain?” 

He’s pleading with Javier as of to ask the man if he thinks that’s normal behavior. If it’s something Javier would’ve been okay with or even done himself. He feels his stomach churn just thinking about it. “No, Murphy. I can’t.” He shouldn’t have let Steve go with Carrillo yesterday. But who could blame him? Steve had wanted it. 

Steve makes a noise in his throat and stands abruptly from the table. “I need another drink.”

“Ya ha tenido suficiente,” he calls after him. Steve’s already at the bar ordering more. Javier sighs deeply. “Fucking gringos.” 

Steve drinks at the bar for a while then comes back to their table with a couple more drinks. He hands Javier another beer but keeps the whiskey to himself. At this point Javier realizes he made a mistake by asking Steve to drinks tonight. The man’s probably had 10 shots of whiskey and he was already stumbling when he’d walked back over just seconds ago. His face is flushed from the alcohol and his head keeps bobbing. “Where are my cigarettes?” he slurs. 

“I took them. You’ve had enough to smoke today and probably enough to drink. I should take you home.”

Steve glares at Javier with an angry pout. “Give them back Javi.”

“No.”

Steve downs his last glass of whiskey and stands in front of Javier with an angry tint in his eyes. He’s swaying on his feet and has a hand on the table for balance. “I said give them back.”

Javier doesn’t know what game Steve’s trying to play right now, but he’s sick of his shit. Sick of him always getting overly drunk and thinking he can just do whatever he wants. Javier invited him out so they could talk. Not for Steve to piss his life away even more than he already had. He takes a step into Steve’s space and gives him a hard look. “And I said no. Now let me take you-”

Javier’s not expecting a sharp right hook to his jaw that knocks him clean off his feet. He lands on the floor with an “oomph” and immediately puts a hand to the side of his tingling face. He looks up at Steve with wide eyes and sees an equally shocked expression. Javier suddenly feels like crying for some reason. He’s not mad in even the slightest. Steve just punched him hard in the face and for no fucking reason, but he’s not angry. 

“Javi I didn’t mean...I’m so-”

“Shut your fucking mouth,” he says standing up. “Now I said I’m taking you home.” Javier wraps an arm around Steve’s back and helps him to the car, ignoring the glances from the other people around their tables. Steve’s leaning heavily against him, but he eventually gets them both to his truck and on their way home. 

Steve is snoring loudly on his shoulder when Javier parks the vehicle. Instead of sleeping against the window, he decided to use Javier as a pillow. He gets out of the truck and tries shaking Steve awake so he can help him inside. The man won’t budge. He just keeps snoring loudly and making Javier’s night worse. “I fucking hate you Murphy,” he grumbles as he tries to drag his dead weight off the seats so he can carry him. He closes the door with his back when Steve is in his arms and struggles up the stairs. “You’re so heavy. If you wake up with a concussion because I dropped you it’s not my fault.” 

Javier’s holding Steve between his body and the door of Steve’s apartment as he tries to unlock the door. He grunts, finally getting the door open and nearly stumbles face first through the entryway with Steve in his arms. “You’re going to owe me coffee for an entire week after this.” 

He finds the bedroom and practically throws Steve onto the bed. He thinks about just leaving him there like that but a tug in his chest makes him decide he probably shouldn’t. He pulls his shoes and socks off then unbuttons that blue shirt Javier likes. He places his shoes by the closet and throws the clothes in a basket in the corner of the room. He stands there with his hands hovering over Steve’s belt, contemplating whether he should go that far. “I wouldn’t want to sleep in jeans either,” he says to the silent room. He removes the belt and gently tugs his jeans all the way off. Javier then tucks Steve under the comforter and makes sure he looks like he’s in a comfortable position. 

He runs a hand through his hair and sighs loudly. Stupid fucking Steve and his drinking problem. Javier knows he’s going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow, so he fetches him a glass of water and a bottle a painkillers from the bathroom. He sets both things on the bedside table and finally turns to leave. 

There’s a deep groan from the bed and a mumbled, “Jabi.”

Javier turns to look at him with a scrunched nose. “That’s not my name Murphy.” 

Steve’s eyes are still closed but he fishes his arms out from under the blankets and shoots them straight in the air. “Jabi,” he says again, wiggling his fingers. 

Javier groans but walks over to Steve anyway. “¿Qué quieres cabrón?” 

Steve opens his eyes when Javier gets close enough and closes his hands around his face. Steve looks at him with his impossible blue eyes and smiles. “You’re so pretty,” he slurs into the night. Javier’s breath catches slightly in his throat, and he’s so relaxed against Steve’s hands that there’s no resistance when Steve pulls him down and catches his lips in a kiss. It’s a quick kiss of only lips but the pressure Steve uses against his mouth is satisfyingly great. Steve’s eyes are closed again when he lets go of Javier’s face. He whispers, “I love you so much,” before immediately falling asleep again. 

Javier stares down at Steve from the side of the bed for a long time. Such a long time that his feet begin to hurt. He eventually leaves the room and collapses down onto Murphy’s couch. He pulls a bottle of something out from under the coffee table and lights a cigarette. He sits there for the entire night, thinking about what just happened and what Steve had said. He drinks the liquor and smokes his way through the rest of Steve’s pack. His brain is empty and his eyes unfocused, but there’s a clench in his heart. 

When light starts filtering through the curtains of Steve’s apartment, Javier leaves to his own place to shower and put new clothes on. He didn’t sleep last night, and he probably won’t for the rest of his life. Not with the ghost of Steve’s lips and the taste of him on his mouth. Not when those whispered words echo through his head in all hours of the night. 

When Steve arrives an hour late to work the next morning, Javier tenses. He doesn’t know what Steve’s going to say or what he’s going to do. He looks like absolute shit though. 

Steve slumps in his chair and looks around for his cigarettes. The ones Javier smoked last night. When he starts growing frustrated, Javier tosses a new pack across the desk for him. Steve glances up with a smile but quickly frowns. “What happened to your jaw?” 

The question throws Javier off and he presses a hand to the giant bruise along his jaw bone. “You punched me because I took your cigarettes away from you.”

Steve makes a face. “Fuck. Sorry Peña.” Javier wishes he’d call him Jabi again. “I don’t remember that. Did I do anything else I should know about? Start any other fights?” 

Javier squints at him. “You don’t remember?”

Steve shrugs. “Last thing I remember is leaving this place.”

He doesn’t remember. 

Javier’s relieved and disappointed at the same time. He wants to smile but he also wants to throw up. “You punched me, I took you home, then I went to my place and fell asleep.” 

Steve tilts his head at him. “That’s it? Nothing else happened?”

Javier wants to tell him, wants him to remember, but thinks maybe this time he’ll keep it to himself. So what if he dreams of Steve’s lips every night. Colombia is a hard place, and they don’t have the luxury of getting soft now. 

“Yeah, Murphy. Nothing else happened.”

**Author's Note:**

> let me know what you think!  
> tumblr: pedromiamor


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